Since being selected 5th overall in the 2020 draft, Tua hasn’t had it easy.

He entered the league coming off a major hip injury and was thrown into the lineup when the starter, Ryan Fitzpatrick, was winning games and having a good season. While Dolphins fans supported him from the get-go, people watching from a distance were confused about why he was playing when Fitz-Magic was taking place in South Florida.

On the other side of the country, Justin Herbert was putting up huge numbers on his way to being the Rookie of the Year, which naturally led to the question: “Did Miami Select the Wrong Guy?”

Things didn’t get any easier for Tua as there were rumors that Miami wanted Tom Brady, and there was a situation on a boat prior to Miami drafting Tua of trying to talk Brady into coming to Miami.

Then, of course, the pursuit of Chris Grier and Brian Flores of Deshaun Watson and Miami possibly trading for him. All the while, this was going on as Tua was struggling in an offense where he had no weapons and four offensive coordinators.

Then Miami tampers with Tom Brady….again.

Yet, Tua was still here, still standing, still putting in the hard work.

But now it’s 2023, and everything has changed. Tua has a head coach who knows modern offense the past two seasons. He got weapons to throw to. He is excelling and playing at a high level.

We are seeing a new Tua.

And it’s time for the TUA REVENGE TOUR to begin.

Tua can lead Miami to an AFC East crown. Tua can lead Miami to the playoffs. And in the process, make the powers that be with the Dolphins (Grier and Stephen Ross) pay for how he was treated early in his career.

While players drafted in the same class as him, like Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts, have new long-term contracts and have broken the bank with record-setting deals, Tua, if he can finish his story here in 2023, will get a deal that maybe surpasses all of theirs.

Tua won’t give the Dolphins a home-town discount, and he will bring Stephen Ross to his knees with the size of the contract he will demand and the signing bonus he will have to give Tua.

And for that to happen, Tua needs to play in the second half of the season like he did in the first. If he does that, he will silence all his critics, both amongst the Dolphins fan base and in the media, and secure that long-term, life-changing money that will last generations in his family. And also complete his story of the first five years of his NFL career.

Perception is funny; once people make up their minds about someone, it is hard to get them to change it. Tua is changing everyone’s perception of him, and in the second half of this season he can entirely change it by letting his play do all of the talking for him.